On Saturday we went for a hike:

With our dog:

In the mountains:

On the way home, we stopped at the World's Tallest Snowwoman, in Bethel, Maine:

Where I made a call on my phone:

And found out that from September to December Misty and I are going to live here:

I'm the recipient of the Ralph A. Johnston Writing Fellowship, given by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Institute of Letters.

The press release.

From Romenesko:

"Fresh Air" host Terry Gross tells Columbia students: "Before we start taping, I tell my guests that if they figure out what they really mean to say in the middle of saying it -- that is, if they figure out a clearer, more concise way of making their point -- they can go back to an earlier part of the answer and do it over. This sounds like sacrilege, I know -- it risks giving an interviewee an opportunity not only to rephrase a point but possibly retract it. But I really do want to give my guests a chance to say what they have to say as clearly as possible. Sometimes Im even the one suggesting they try it again."

From my experience doing radio interviews for Um... last year, this never happens. If anyone gets to stop and start over, it's the host, not the guest. I tried to stop and start over with one show -- it was my first interview, I'd quickly learn doing a number of live shows that forward, forward, forward was the direction of choice, which was something of a challenge for me, as I'm a reviser and a planner, an ummer, not a sentence restarter -- and my assuming the host's prerogative didn't go over well. That, and it made for some hell for the guy who edited it.

I recently purchased a copy of "Ultimate Language Secrets," an e-book published by a guy named Owen Lee (whose real name is Owen Xia Yin) who lives in Singapore. I hesitate to write anything about this, but I don't see any other credible reviews on the web. DO NOT buy this book. Most of the content is ripped off from Wikipedia, in violation of Wikipedia's copyright policy -- this means that you can find it for FREE on the web. Lee also ripped off some of my sentences about Giuseppe Mezzofanti and a discussion of hyperpolyglots, and has probably ripped off stuff from other writers as well. I'll say it again: don't give Lee any of your money, because what he's selling isn't his.

UPDATE: Here is Wikipedia's intellectual property policy, and the reusers' guide is here. To copy material verbatim,

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.

You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.

Owen Lee has put his own copyright on his book, including the material from Wikipedia, which is clearly a violation.

Here's the other problem with fixing the text from Wikipedia and calling it authoritative: Wikipedia pages change. One appendix of "Ultimate Language Secrets" is lifted from the Wikipedia entry on memory, an area in which there's a lot of research being done. Those advances may or may not ever make it to Wikipedia, but if they did, wouldn't you want to know about it?

(snapped by my friend Deb)